


Channel 1: Pale City Eyes

by HQ_TMTVs (AHandWriter)



Series: Tune In [2]
Category: Little Nightmares (Video Game), The City of Metronome (Video Game Concept)
Genre: All of which are ambiguous, Ambiguity, Children, Creepy, Darkness, Escapism, Eyes, Fanart, Gen, Headcanon, Horror, Memories, No Dialogue, POV Third Person Limited, References to 1984 - George Orwell, Short One Shot, Spoilers, Surveillance, Television, The Thin Man (and all of the other monstrous adult humans/humanoids) would hurt a child, Theories, Unreliable Narrator, Visions, because I'm sure much of this will probably be debunked/overwritten once LN2 is released, pre-release, probably will change to an AU in the future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:55:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27615883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AHandWriter/pseuds/HQ_TMTVs
Summary: Do not attempt to adjust the picture, for he controls the Transmission. From within the confines of the Signal Tower, the Thin Man watches over all.(A short story from the Thin Man's perspective with references to Little Nightmares, Very Little Nightmares, and Tarsier Studios' canceled game, The City of Metronome.)
Series: Tune In [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2053683
Comments: 6
Kudos: 34





	Channel 1: Pale City Eyes

_"Powerful eyes watch all the time."_

_*Title of my fanart is inspired by a line in the JT Music song_ "Hungry For Another One"

He was the omnipresent shadow that followed everyone in their footsteps. Some took to calling him a ghost, one that haunted the television sets strewn all over the near-desolate landscape of the aptly named Pale City. When the children spoke with each other in whispers, they referred to him, in fearful tones, with a simple yet ominous name.

The Thin Man.

That, however, wasn't his real name, yet even he wasn't sure he had one to begin with. But if he had one before, it would have been lost to time, having faded into the realm of subconsciousness — as if the name was nothing more but a half-remembered part of a dream.

That personal detail hardly mattered now, though, in the face of the world outside that had become his reality. It was a reality that mattered more to him, having been fabricated to suit his own desires. If the world was inherently ugly, what with its imperfections in the scenery and its people, why not but make it as it truly was?

Dark.

Crooked.

Chaotic.

_A living nightmare._

He had to thank the wondrous machine that the Corporation made. Though admittedly imperfect, the Corporation constructed their own version of the original machine that granted its users the power to shape the world as they desired it. It was also thanks to the modified machine that he was in his current state: a being with great control over this world's television sets, as well as the Transmission emitted from the beacon of the Signal Tower, a place he designated to be his main residence. It was a significant departure from what he thought to be his former self: though it seldom occurred, he had occasional glimpses of what he surmised to be from the distant past.

Memories, he supposed, that were filled with cut photographs.

Amorphous black-colored souls.

A lost briefcase in a dimly-lit room.

A young man and a raven-haired girl.

And perhaps most frequently occurring of all, the cries of despair people — _especially children_ — uttered as their souls were forcefully taken away.

But the so-called dimension within the television sets, however, was what he considered to be his true domain and a place to escape into: it was a place he was certain to have absolute power and control. With the televisions, and with the power granted to him by the Corporation's machine, he could travel anywhere. They were his many eyes to the world, always watching everyone no matter how far they were; even the cover of darkness, purported to grant safety to those trying to avoid his gaze, was nothing more than brief respite, as he lurked in the shadows as well.

So where else was true safety but the few centimeters inside one's own skull?

But he knew his limitations, as he frequently had to confront those who dared to oppose him and the Corporation, or rather what was left of it. Children, perhaps, were notorious for such acts of defiance: he guessed it was due to their natural inquisitiveness about the world around them, thus many had the nerve to attempt to sabotage his and the Corporation's plans. It was their tendency to question that grated him to no end, and if he had the power to completely silence them and prevent them from interfering with the Transmission that altered the world to what it truly was, it would have given him far greater pleasure.

Alas, the Corporation's machine was flawed in that it couldn't grant him such power, but at least he was making do with what he had.

Lately, his observances of the world led him to have an interest in two particular children. Just like the others, they were a threat, but at the same time, he felt that their case was… different. He knew that the boy was very keen on reaching the Tower and was able to use the TVs in the same manner as he; those facts alone were enough to make the boy dangerous, being determined to traverse the City and risk his and his newfound friend's lives to confront him and the Transmission.

On the other hand, there was the girl in the yellow raincoat that traveled alongside the boy. He had seen her aboard the Maw, a place he had kept watch for a long time despite being out of his physical reach, similar to the Nest. Even then, he had watched her progress in the Nest alongside who he surmised to be her former friend. Nevertheless, her persistence and abundance of wit were what allowed her to survive the Nest and the Maw, and given the current circumstances of the Maw and its residents, he deemed her to be as threatening as the boy, if not even more so.

They reminded him of the young man and the raven-haired girl, right down to their appearances. But where the young man and the raven-haired girl had failed and most likely did not exist except in his visions, the boy and the girl in the yellow raincoat were very real and capable threats. Thankfully, the Signal Tower's Transmission is suppressing the girl's dark powers and is causing her to fade away, which meant that there will be one less obstacle in his and the Corporation's plan of maintaining the world in its current state.

Overall, the children were undertaking a fool's errand, a journey that will only be met with failure. Just like in his dreams.

Just about now, his gaze fell upon one of the TVs inside one of the rooms within the Signal Tower. It depicted the boy and the girl in the yellow raincoat making their way across the Pale City streets, walking hand in hand.

Standing from his seat, he pressed his shadowy hands upon one of the television screens, feeling a surge of power as his body was transported into the dimension within the TVs. As he materialized in a dark gray hallway, a single thought ran through his mind.

Whatever it took him, he needed to ensure one thing:

_Under no circumstances should the Transmission be stopped._

**Author's Note:**

> All right! So this is my first Little Nightmares-related fanfic, which happens to have the Thin Man as the POV character. I've made some theories/headcanons for him, along with some other things related to Little Nightmares 2. However, I have set myself slightly apart in that I chose to make the Thin Man related to the Scissor Man, a character in a canceled Tarsier Studios game called "The City of Metronome." I also thought about the possibility of Mono and Six being sort of related/connected to the Boy and New, who are the protagonists of TCOM.
> 
> If anyone has any comments, thoughts, or theories to present/counterargue some of the elements within this story, feel free to do so! I can't wait for February 11, 2021!


End file.
